Create Picture Frames with the Kids as a Christmas Gift

Instructions for Three Christmas Craft Ideas

If trying to make the grandparents’ eyes shine along with the tree lights this Christmas, a photo of their grandchild always makes a great gift idea. A self-made picture frame wonderfully displays your favourite photo and will bring joy to the recipient for the whole year to come. Here we’ll show you three picture frame design ideas that you can create with your child without too much effort. This will also make those long winter evenings a bit more exciting. These craft ideas are suitable for doing with children ages 3 and up.

A Self-Made Picture Frame

You’ll need four wooden craft sticks per frame. Choose which sticky tape motif you want to use and cut this down to size to stick it to the wooden craft stick. Leave at least an extra centimetre of tape on each end of the stick so you can fold over the tape and stick it to the other side of the stick.

Repeat the above step with the other three wooden craft sticks. You can also use two or more different patterns to make the frame more colourful and unique.

Now it’s time to affix the four sticks together. To do this, simply apply wood glue to the ends of the two lateral sticks on the rear side and affix the two upright sticks from behind. When doing this, the sticks should not be flush with each other; you should leave about a centimetre of overhang on each corner.

For the last step, cut your favourite photo down to size to fit in the frame and glue it to the frame from behind. Now your individualised photo gift in a festive design is finished and ready to beautify any wall.

ifolor Tip

You have a lot of great snapshots of your child and can’t decide on which one to use? No problem: this craft idea is also great for displaying a small series of photos. For this, simply order several photos in 9x13 cm or 10x15 cm format and then later cut the photos to size. Click here to order your digital photos.

Christmas Picture Frames with Napkins

Crafting with napkins is easy to do, even for small hands, and is also a lot of fun since there are so many design possibilities! You’ll need the following materials for this craft idea: a white picture frame and a suitably sized photo, napkins with Christmas motifs (e.g. reindeer), wallpaper paste (or napkin glue), a wide bristleless brush, craft scissors, glitter, a hairdryer, and colourful bast or raffia.

Here’s how it’s done:

First cut your desired motif out of the napkin. If your child isn’t that practised with using scissors, you can also choose to use a napkin with smaller patterns and simply tear this into smaller pieces. You’ll only need the top layer of the napkin.

Apply a thin layer of wallpaper paste to the frame and then affix the cut-out motifs or snippets next to each other. Carefully apply pressure to these with the brush. When doing this, always start with the inside and work your way to the outside of the frame. This will help avoid the appearance of folds and tears. When finished, apply another thin layer of paste and blow-dry the frame afterwards on a low heat setting.

For a really glamorous Christmas look you can apply another thin layer of glue with your brush and apply some glitter. Let this air dry and then seal the frame with another thin layer of glue.

Once everything is dry, you can decorate your frame with some colourful bast or raffia. You can affix this with hot glue in order to ensure it stays in place.

Then all you have to do is look for a nice photo and place it in the frame and your individualised Christmas gift is all finished!

ifolor Tip

In order to ideally showcase colours, we recommend using a light-coloured frame. Do you have unused picture frames sitting in your drawer that are dark in colour? No problem! Simply apply an undercoat of acrylic paint before crafting.

A Picture Frame with Wrapping Paper Snails

This idea won’t only help you craft something, but is also a great way to do something with your leftover wrapping paper. For this you’ll need: (leftover) wrapping paper in many different Christmas colours and patterns, craft scissors, and a hot glue gun.

Now you’re ready to get started:

Cut the wrapping paper into strips of various lengths with a width of about 4 cm. The longer the strips, the bigger the snails will be at the end.

Then fold all the strips four times lengthwise and roll these up to make your snails.

The differently sized snails can now be arranged on the picture frame to your taste and affixed with the hot glue gun.